Sony Execs Forced To Give Back Annual Bonus

Sony CEO Kaz Haira has ordered 40 fellow Sony executives to repay their annual bonuses. According to the Japanese publication Nikkei, employees have been asked to give back the bonuses which is the equivalent of 35% of their base salary.

Sony Announces Fiscal Report Tomorrow

This announcement comes the day before the company will release its latest financial results. The company is expected to announce loses of $12 billion dollars. Yeah, billion with a big B. The amount the execs are returning to the company is estimated at $10 million.

Sony says that it expects heavier losses than anticipated because of having to offload its Viao computer business. The company has also taken a hit from a heavy decline in disc manufacturing as Blu-ray and DVD sales are struggling. This marks the third year in a row that Sony has asked execs to return their bonuses.

What Does This Mean For Sony?

Well, for starters it's easy to try and not feel so bad for these execs having to return more than most of us make in 3-4 years, but let's think of it in this sense.

Is it good for any company, for any reason, to ask employees to pay any amount of money back? I mean everyone budgets for the money they make, so imagine you were asked to give back 35% of your annual salary. See how it's understandable for these execs to be quite upset? Now think about the fact that your company has had to do it for three years straight.

I feel like Sony should really focus in on the big money makers it has. Focus on PlayStation, TVs, and maybe Blu-ray or DVD players. I think it's good that Sony got rid of Viao. The disc sale is not surprising as more games become on the PSN and other sources. Sony just needs to regroup and go after what it does best.

What's your skinny on this?

It's not 35% of their annual salary, it's a bonus - an addition to their salary, one that Sony never had to give out in the first place. It's incredibly hard to feel any kind of remorse for these people when, 1. They probably did little to deserve it, 2. That money would have made pretty nice bonuses for the actual employees (The people who actually deserve an additional 35%), 3. most of the world's working class (A huge percentage of those 7-8 billion people who inhabit Earth) don't even get bonuses anymore, and 4. They're the reason Sony is losing so much money to begin with.

So I actually applaud Sony on this one and hope more companies follow their example, because instead of laying off low level employees to offset the loses, they punished the people responsible for them in the first place, and that children, is called "doing the right thing". Kudos Sony.

I wonder if Microsoft is losing money tens of billions a year. Interesting.

I will sympathize for their execs having to give back all that money, doing the math it's something like $250,000 each going back. That is a house..... I would be mad too. Although, doing the math again that means they are making something like 750k a year without the bonus... Dam them and their money.

...nah still not feeling very bad about it. Being upset about losing an annual bonus while being a game executive for one of the largest brands in the world is not exactly the same thing as losing your bonus making 40k a year.